Pride
by Venussail
Summary: Hiro has always been a very prideful person. Now, this pride has resulted in him losing the person he cares for most. Will he be able to get him back? YAOI, don't like, don't read.


A/N: Moshi moshi, mi-na! Although I updated a little on the late side, I've been diligently working on oneshots for all of you to enjoy, which I hope will make up for it. This time it's Junjou Romantica, one of my all time favorite yaoi anime/manga. I actually wrote this before I wrote Fiore's Unrequited Love (go check it out! *wink*), but I decided to upload that one first for two reasons: one, it was shorter, and two, I had the perfect amount of time to complete it in a class period (I had already finished my work). Anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I had the rights to Junjou Romantica, there would be a third season. Being that I don't, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

Pride

Hiro had finally done it. He let his pride get to him and now Nowaki was gone forever.

"Baka," he mumbled to himself, "I didn't even do anything wrong."

----Flashback----

"Hiro, I'm home," Nowaki said meakly, tired from working four jobs and trying to keep up with the substantial amount of homework his professors had piled on.

"Hn," Hiro said in response.

'He's always like this,' Nowaki thought. 'For once it would be nice to hear, "Hey, honey, I'm so glad you're home. How was your day?" It's not asking a lot….'

Nowaki went into the kitchen and started making dinner while Hiro continued to sit in his recliner and read the newspaper. Normally, Nowaki would have started some small talk, asking how his lover's day went and other such things like if there was anything interesting in the news. However, the routine had become a drain on him- after all, the conversation was strictly one-sided more often than not, with Nowaki asking all the questions and getting one word answers.

Dinner was a silent affair as well this night, save for an "Itadakimasu" before either of them started eating. Nowaki didn't even get a thank you for his efforts. On top of that, Hiro once again didn't even bother to help with the dishes.

When they went to bed that night, Nowaki decided that a very important question needed to be asked before they fell asleep.

"Hiro, do you love me?"

Hiro blinked in surprise. "Baka, why would you ask me that?"

"Because I need to know," Nowaki pleaded.

Hiro scoffed. "Stop bugging me with your idiotic questions and go to sleep," he said, annoyed.

"Please, Hiro! I must know if you feel the same way about me that I do about you!"

Hiro knew the answer to his lover's question. Of course he was in love with him. But his damned pride wasn't about to let him say that.

"Stop pestering me or I'll make you sleep on the couch," he said rolling over so his back was turned to Nowaki.

"Gomen nasai, Hiro. I'll be quiet now," the teen said dejectedly as he followed suit.

----Scene Change (A/N: I'm pretty sure it can be done in a flashback)----

The next morning Hiro woke up to find that Nowaki had already left. In place of Nowaki was a note addressed to Hiro that read:

'Hiro,

I am sorry for doing this without notice, but I feel that my time with you is up. I am deeply saddened by this and I wish there were another way. I feel deep affection for you, though I don't think the affection is reciprocated. I hoped that one day the love I showed you would be given back, but that is obviously not the case. Therefore, I feel it would be better for both of us if I moved on. Goodbye, Hiro.

Nowaki'

Hiro sat on his bed, trying to comprehend the fact that he was just dumped. He didn't know what to feel- anger, sadness, a combination of the two? He crumpled up the note in frustration and threw it on the floor.

"Nowaki, you're such a baka…"

----End Flashback----

In spite of what he called his ex-lover, Hiro found himself walking along the sidewalks as he tried to think of a way to get him back.

'Why am I even wasting my time thinking about this? It couldn't possibly mean…' -Hiro paused in his thought process- 'that I NEED him?!'

Hiro was so caught up in his thoughts that before he realized it he was standing in front of the coffee shop Nowaki worked at around that time.

'Damn you, subconscious,' he thought.

He figured that since he was here he might as well make the best of it. He walked in the shop and sat at a table near a window. The stop seemed to be low on staff today, with one waiter, one cashier for to-go orders, and one barista.

"May I take your order, s- Hiro?" Nowaki gasped as he lifted his head up from his notepad. "Hiro, what are you doing here?"

"To get a cup of coffee, what did you think I was here for, baka?"

Nowaki's facial expression turned stony, which was very unlike him. Hiro recognized this and immediately scolded himself mentally for saying something like that. If he was going to get Nowaki back, that was definitely NOT the way to do it.

"Wait a minute, that's not what I meant to say," Hiro said quickly, in an attempt to retract his previous statement. Nowaki raised an eyebrow.

Hiro sighed- this was turning out to be harder than he originally thought. He decided to start off the easy way.

"I'll have a large dark roast, black, please," he said, hoping that this might be a way for him to segway into telling Nowaki how he truly felt.

Nowaki had expected Hiro to say a lot more than just an order, but he guessed he was just getting his hopes up. He walked away to tell the order to the barista and ask his boss a question.

"Here you are sir," said a man placing Hiro's order down who was most obviously not Nowaki.

Hiro looked around the shop for any signs of Nowaki, but didn't see him anywhere. A lady who arrived in the midst of his search told him that if he was looking for a dark-haired man named Nowaki he was out of luck because Nowaki left early and she was taking over the rest of his shift. Hiro gritted his teeth as she walked away and downed his steaming hot coffee in one gulp, despite the fact that it scalded his throat, before leaving the shop.

'Figures the baka would leave just as I was about to spill my guts to him.'

For fear of letting his aggravation get to him and saying the wrong thing to Nowaki once he found him again, Hiro called it a day and headed home.

----Scene Change----

The next day Hiro went straight from the school he student-taught at (A/N: I believe that's what Hiro does) to the flower shop he knew his former lover was working at today in a second attempt to get him back. Having spent the last night mulling over what to say, he was confident he could accomplish his goal. Striding up to the flower shop, he gasped when he saw that it was the exact opposite of what the coffee shop was the day prior- filled to the brim, with couples no less. Wondering what the occasion was, he looked at the shop windows for a sign. On the left window, he saw the one that gave him his answer. There was a three-day sale with 50% off on red roses for all couples who bought a bouquet of them.

As annoying and difficult as he knew it would be, Hiro started to squeeze his way through the enormous crowd. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to get to the front desk. He saw Nowaki being bombarded by the hordes of couples all clamoring to make their purchase. Hiro kinda felt sorry for him.

"Nowaki!" he shouted in an attempt to divert Nowaki's focus to him.

When it didn't work, he tried again, but Nowaki still didn't hear him. He kept shouting his name until his throat (still not fully recovered from being scalded yesterday) hurt. His temper rose to peak levels, but he tried to ignore it. The final straw that made him lose any control he might have had came when he was pushed to the floor by an extremely rude couple who had just picked the roses they wanted and were apparently too eager to make their purchase to remember manners.

Screaming silently in his mind while clutching his head, Hiro left the flower shop before he lost it and ended up killing all who were there (save for Nowaki of course). Nowaki caught a glance of him leaving and spent the rest of the day thinking about it while he diligently kept up with his customers to the best of his abilities.

----Scene Change----

Going to the coffee shop didn't work. Going to the flower shop didn't work. At this point, Hiro thought it was just a bad idea in general to go to Nowaki's workplace. Therefore, he thought it might be best to catch Nowaki right as he came out of school. Luckily, their schedules were such that if he worked fast enough he would be able to get all of his work done and still make it to Nowaki's school in time.

Within five minutes on the clock, Hiro managed to finish grading the last term paper. He quickly stacked the graded papers, packed his things and ran to his car.

----Scene Change----

It took Hiro a mere fifteen minutes to get to Nowaki's school since he was basically driving like a madman. Practically jumping out of his car, Hiro ran up the steps to the front doors. Unfortunately, he was in such a rush that he didn't notice the door flying open as someone exited the building. He smashed his nose and fell to the ground.

"Gomen nasai! Are you alright?" a voice cried out to him.

He sat up, putting his sleeve under his bleeding nose. He was about to say something, but then he looked to see who the voice was and became speechless.

"Nowaki?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"Hiro?" his ex-lover asked in turn before helping him get up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Normally, Hiro would have yelled at Nowaki for being a baka, but he relented this time.

"Let's get you to the nurse's office," Nowaki said, putting his arm around Hiro's shoulder and guiding him to the nurse's office.

----Scene Change----

After the nurse checked the damage and determined that there was nothing wrong, Hiro and Nowaki thanked her and left. They went to the courtyard and sat on one of the picnic tables. Things were silent for a bit while the pair tried to stop the bleeding. When it finally stopped completely, Nowaki stared intently at Hiro, obviously wanting an explanation for why Hiro kept showing up wherever he was. Hiro knew this and decided to swallow his pride for once in his life.

"Look, Nowaki…" he started slowly, "The reason I've been following you is because…" he stopped mid-sentence.

"Because?" Nowaki questioned in a surprisingly cold voice that made Hiro wince.

"I…. want you back."

Nowaki's eyes grew to the size of saucers when he heard this statement.

Hiro sighed heavily. "I hate to admit it, but I need you. I'm a miserable man who takes out his frustrations on other people, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I was the baka here."

"Hiro…"

Hiro raised his hand to silence Nowaki for a moment.

"And… it takes a lot for me to say this due to my damned pride….. I love you," Hiro said, his body shaking from all the emotion he felt.

"That's all you needed to say. Arigato, Hiro," Nowaki said, then kissed his lover on the cheek.

"So… Are you coming back home?" Hiro asked, blushing.

"Of course I will. I love you too, Hiro."

The two kissed on the mouth this time and drove home together.

A/N: I am so sorry, mi-na! I had planned on having this in much sooner, but I've had some major league drama with my ex lately. Anyway, that's none of your concern, so I'll stop now before I write another two pages that will include nothing but ranting. I hope you all enjoyed the story! R&R please! Ja ne!


End file.
